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The built in iOS podcast app is junk. I currently use Pocket Casts from Shifty Jelly. Before that I used Overcast. I’d recommend either one, though Overcast is currently free (wasn’t when I got it), and Pocket Casts is like $4. They both have a feature that skips past silence (lulls in speech) without you even noticing. This feature alone has saved me over 2 days of listening time. That’s crazy.

And now for what I’m listening to, in the order they appear in my app – which is to say in no particular order.

Security Now – Computer Security. Nerd!

StarTalk Radio – Splitting off into different shows… I only listen when NdT is on now. It’s an interesting format but the rotating comedian guest hosts are often guilty of celebration of ignorance, and that gets really old.

The Tim Ferriss Show – Long format, check the guest. Pretty informative generally.

Adam Ruins Everything – The podcast version of the TV show. Goes deeper.

The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe – Mike Rowe does a Paul Harvey kinda thing. Short and interesting. Binge.

Revisionist History – Malcolm Gladwell.

Embedded – Tough stories to hear, but they should be heard.

Dirty White Belt Radio – Broadcasting from the center of the known universe.

The Sporkful – It’s not for foodies, it’s for eaters.

50 Things That Made the Modern Economy – Short, educational. Binge.

Slate’s The Gist – I don’t watch the Daily Show any more, I listen to this.

Twenty Thousand Hertz – It’s about sound. Binge listen.

Make Me Smart with Kai and Molly – Just started listening, we’ll see.

S-Town – New show, just out today. First episode was interesting.

These last two are long shows that come out too frequently to listen to every episode. I subscribe to but don’t auto download so I can see the guest name. If I’m interested I dl. I might hear one show a month from each.

The Adam Carolla Show

The Joe Rogan Experience

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For the third time in about a month I heard someone described their process of skimming a book. Seth Godin told Gary V he reads a book until he “gets the joke”, and then he puts it down. I heard someone else describe their process of reading the beginning, the one chapter with the meat, and maybe the conclusion. If you do this can you really say you read the book?

I have a point of no return with books. It’s somewhere around a third. If I’m a third of the way through and I realize I don’t like the book, I’m stuck. I’m in it until the end. In fact it’s rare for me to stop reading a book at all. I think I can name all of the books I’ve read only part of in the last ten years – A Game of Thrones, The Great North Road, and The Satanic Verses. When I gave up on that last one I tweeted, “I’m halfway through the Satanic Verses. It’s beautifully written. Every paragraph is like a poem. I have no idea what it’s about.”

I don’t normally read biographies but I picked one up because it was about a person I’m interested in and it’s by an author I know I like. I don’t know exactly when I started reading it but I know I’ve moved three times since then. I never read one book at a time so I’ve read a bunch of other books since then. I’ve read at least one other book on the same topic in that time. But this one is dragging on. It just won’t end. Sitting down to read it feels masochistic at this point. But I’m more than halfway through… just stick it out.

I mentioned this to Chrissy last night and she made a radical suggestion. “Stop.”

Well I’ve thought about it, and I decided to give myself permission to stop reading this book. I don’t feel good about it, but there’s a stack of books on the table I really do want to read. Time to move on.

Did you really beat the game?

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I was walking down the street passing the courthouse and there was a black guy with dreads walking straight at me. He was wearing a NY Rangers home jersey. As we approached I raised one hand and pointed at him, and pulled the zipper of my hoodie down with my other hand to reveal my NYR t-shirt. His face lit up and he put one hand straight up in the air. I matched his smile and slapped his hand as we passed wordlessly. So much was communicated but not a word spoken. It was this perfect moment.